Sanctified Imagination: Abiding in Perfect Peace

Isaiah 26:3 (TPT)

“Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with You; they confidently trust in You.”

God created imagination. It was never meant to be defiled or dismissed — it was designed to be set apart, sanctified, and surrendered continually to Him. Just as we apply the blood of Jesus over our hearts and minds, we must also apply it over our imagination — the place where vision, creativity, and divine revelation are born.

The Lord said, “Sanctify My people as you celebrate the harvest.” The harvest represents what we reap from what we’ve sown — not only our work or tithes, but the fruit of our thoughts, motives, and heart. We truly reap what we sow: sow righteousness, reap righteousness; sow jealousy, reap competition. Every seed begins as a thought — an idea birthed in the imagination.

Because we are made in His image, we share His capacity for imagination. God imagined the world before He spoke it into being. He imagined you — and then formed you. His imagination is creative power, and ours, when yielded to Him, becomes a vessel for His Spirit to move through.

That’s why Scripture tells us to “take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.” Our thoughts and imaginations are intertwined — they shape what we believe and ultimately what we do. To trust our imagination is not foolish when it is sanctified and tested by the Word of God. It is in that space — the redeemed imagination — that we see the Lord, hear His instructions, and receive impressions from the Holy Spirit.

God is inviting us to let the Holy Spirit illuminate our imagination — to open the eyes of our heart to see Him, not merely for revelation, but for abiding. For tabernacling with Him. And in that abiding, we discover perfect peace — the peace Isaiah spoke of.

When we dwell there, no darkness can destroy us. Our bodies may be frail, but our spirit shines with His glory. We become untouchable by fear, anxiety, and the forces of evil because our spirit is hidden in Him.

I think of my son’s story. During a military training exercise that simulated being a prisoner of war, he endured grueling mental stress. He told me later that what sustained him was going back — in his imagination — to when he was just four or five years old. Each morning, he and his sister and I would sit together, read a short scripture, and then put on the full armor of God piece by piece — the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit.

Those mornings planted something deep within him. When the pressure came, that seed rose up. Through his sanctified imagination, he was able to abide in the presence of God, stand firm, and find peace.

That is the invitation of Isaiah 26:3 — to live with imaginations consumed by Him, so that His peace surrounds us, protects us, and anchors us through every storm.